Automatic coupling.



S. G. JOHNSTON.

AUTOMATIC COUPLING. APPLICATION HLED OCT. 30. 914.

1,1 34,864, Patented Apr. 6, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

,6, dark do" THE NORRIS PETERS c0 PHOTO-LITHQ, SNI'NJIL N. D. C,

SQGJOHNSTON.

AUTOMATIC COUPLING.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 30' I9I4.

1,134,864. 'PatentedApr. 6, 1915.

3 SHBETS-SHEET 2.

THE NORRIS PETERS CO" FHOTO-LITHQ, WASHINGTON, D. C.

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T E ge AUTOMATIC COUPLING.

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I '0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, STEPHEN G. JOHN- STON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Barboursville, in the county of Cabell and State of WVest Virginia, have invented new and useful Improvements in Automatic Couplers, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to improvements in drier cars for brick driers, the object being to provide a drier car with. an automatic coupler so that when the car is run in the drier or tunnel and when it strikes the car ahead of it they will couple together and will not become separated while in the drier and so obviate the liability of causing a wrench between the cars in the drier or of the train pushing through the door of the drier which not infrequently happens when the cars are notcoupled.

lVith the above and other objects in view, the improvement resides in the construction, combination and arrangement of parts set forth in the following specification and falling within the scope of the appended claims.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a side elevation illustrating a car provided with my improvement coupled to a second drier car, the arrangement of the device when in an uncoupling position being indicated by the dotted lines, Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the car with my improvement thereon, Fig. 3 is an end elevation of the same, Fig. 4: is a perspective view of the coupler, and Fig. 5 is a similar view of the coupler hanger.

As is well known, the bodies of brick drier cars are formed of a rigid open framework, the sides and connecting members being generally in the nature of angle irons and the said car is provided with metal uprights to support the pallets for bricks which are arranged upon the car when the car is run into the drier.

The numeral 1 designates a drier car of the usual construction, the same having its outer longitudinal body members 2 connected by a plurality of angle bars 3, and the said body is provided with standards 4:, also of metal and preferably of angle bars.

The truck or car is provided with the usualwheels 5 which have their axles ar ranged in suitable openings which preferably depend from the sides of the car, the said wheels traveling upon the usual tracks 6.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed October 30, 1914.

Patented Apr. 6, 1915.

Serial No. 869,444. 7 Secured to the transverse connecting angle iron adjacent one of the end angle irons of the car 1 is a hanger 7 the same being disposed upon the said angle iron below the open frame work at the top of the car. The hanger 7 is preferably constructed of a single piece of suitable metal bent upon itself to provide parallel side members 8 and each of the sides is given a quarter twist to arrange the .upper portion thereof at a right angle to the sides proper to provide, what I term, ears 9, which are arranged upon the opposite sides or faces of the angle bar and to which the hanger is connected.

The improvement contemplates the employment of a lever 10 which is of metal and which is of a greater length than the body of the car. The lever passes between the arms 8 of the hanger 7 and is pivotally secured thereto, as indicated by the numeral 11, while one of the ends of the lever is turned upon itself to provide a handle 12, the same being disposed horizontally with respect to the plane of the body of the car. The opposite end of the lever is also twisted to provide a right angular extension 13 which is continued downwardly, as at 1 1, and from thence horizontally, as at 15, and the end portion 16 is bent upwardly and continued downwardly at an angle, as indicated by the numeral 17 The portions 14, 15 and 16 provide what may be termed the jaw of the coupler and the angular portion 17 pro vides the directing lip for the head. The head is arranged nearer the pivot 11 than is the end of the lever provided with the handle 12, so that the portion of the lever between the pivot and the said handle 12 is of a greater weight than the portion of the handle between the pivot and the coupler head. Thus it will be noted the coupler head has its horizontal portion 15 normally. contacting with the underface or edge of one of the end angle When the car is brought toward a second car, indicated by the numeral 20, the directing lip will engage with the angle bar 19 thereof, and when the said lip passes the said bar 19 the head of the coupler member will swing by gravity to engage with the said angle bar 19, thus connecting the car 1 with the car 20. To uncouple the cars a pressure in an upward direction is applied to the handle 12, which will cause the lever to swing to the angle indicated by the bars of the car 1.

dotted lines in Fig. 1 of the drawings and likewise cause the coupler head to be arranged below the plane of the bodies of the cars and so disengaged from the angle bar 19 of the car 20.

It will be noted that the coupling operation is automatic, and from the above description, taken in connection with the ac companying drawings, the simplicity of the device as well as the advantages thereof will, it is thought, be perfectly apparent to those skilled in the art to which such in vention appertains without further detailed description.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim is:

1. A coupler for a drier car comprising a lever of a greater length than the car and pivoted beyond its center to the car, one end of the lever providing a handle, the second end of the lever being bent horizontally to provide a jaw and the said jaw resting upon the end connecting bar of the car hanger, said lever being of a greater length than the body of the car, the end of the lever nearest the hanger being twisted to pro vide a right angular extension which is bent downwardly and continued horizontally over the end connecting bar of the car to provide a jaw which includes a downturned portion having a horizontal extension which terminates in an upwardly extending end and the said end having a downwardly projecting angular projection providing a directing lip.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

STEPHEN G. JOHNSTON, Witnesses:

W. W. WARD, J. H. MAXWELL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents Washington, D. C. 

